Chapters on Jewish Literature eBook

This book was called the Mishnah (from the
verb shana, “to repeat” or “to
learn"). The Mishnah was not the work of one man
or of one age. So long was it in growing, that
its birth dates from long before the destruction of
the Temple. But the men most closely associated
with the compilation of the Mishnah were the Tannaim
(from the root tana, which has the same meaning
as shana). There were about one hundred
and twenty of these Tannaim between the years 70 and
200 C.E., and they may be conveniently arranged in
four generations. From each generation one typical
representative will here be selected.

THE TANNAIM

First Generation, 70 to 100
C.E.
JOCHANAN, the son of Zakkai

Second Generation, 100 to
130 C.E.
AKIBA

Third Generation, 130 to 160
C.E.
MEIR

Fourth Generation, 160 to
200 C.E.
JUDAH THE PRINCE

The Tannaim were the possessors of what was perhaps
the greatest principle that dominated a literature
until the close of the eighteenth century. They
maintained that literature and life were
co-extensive. It was said of Jochanan, the son
of Zakkai, that he never walked a single step without
thinking of God. Learning the Torah, that is,
the Law, the authorized Word of God, and its Prophetical
and Rabbinical developments, was man’s supreme
duty. “If thou hast learned much Torah,
ascribe not any merit to thyself, for therefor wast
thou created.” Man was created to learn;
literature was the aim of life. We have already
seen what kind of literature. Jochanan once said
to his five favorite disciples: “Go forth
and consider which is the good way to which a man
should cleave.” He received various answers,
but he most approved of this response: “A
good heart is the way.” Literature is life
if it be a heart-literature—­this may be
regarded as the final justification of the union effected
in the Mishnah between learning and righteousness.

Akiba, who may be taken to represent the second generation
of Tannaim, differed in character from Jochanan.
Jochanan had been a member of the peace party in the
years 66 to 70; Akiba was a patriot, and took a personal
part in the later struggle against Rome, which was
organized by the heroic Bar Cochba in the years 131
to 135. Akiba set his face against frivolity,
and pronounced silence a fence about wisdom. But
his disposition was resolute rather than severe.
Of him the most romantic of love stories is told.
He was a herdsman, and fell in love with his master’s
daughter, who endured poverty as his devoted wife,
and was glorified in her husband’s fame.
But whatever contrast there may have been in the two
characters, Akiba, like Jochanan, believed that a
literature was worthless unless it expressed itself
in the life of the scholar. He and his school
held in low esteem the man who, though learned, led
an evil life, but they took as their ideal the man